Rajasthan to become India's open access green energy hub

Rajasthan to become India's open access green energy hub

September 29, 2025

Jaipur, Sep. 29, 2025 — Rajasthan is rapidly emerging as a prime destination for large-scale green-energy open-access projects, with about 2.4 GW of solar open-access capacity installed and a pipeline of roughly 10.2 GW at the end of June 2025

The industry speakers pointed to the state’s high solar irradiation, large tracts of non-fertile land suitable for utility-scale plants, and ready access to interstate transmission as major advantages drawing corporate and third-party buyers to open access deals. They also said that roughly 80% of the pipeline is standalone solar, ~10% is solar plus storage, and ~9% is solar–wind hybrid.

Deepak Jain, CTO at Insolation Energy, captured the duality of the moment: adopters see material savings versus grid power and an easier ESG reporting burden, but projects take quite long to get approved, require upgrades of the grid itself, and are constrained by a shortage of skilled manpower in manufacturing and EPC as deployments grow. Policy is pushing the market towards storage: Rajasthan has made it mandatory for green open access projects above 5 MW to include batteries sized for at least two hours of generation or 5% of project capacity, with energy supplied from storage qualifying for fee relaxations or exemptions – an incentive that is encouraging more solar-plus-storage and hybrid bids. Commercial economics are a central driver. Soleos Energy Chief Marketing Officer Rahul Makahaniya said captive projects in Rajasthan can achieve landing costs around ₹1.75–₹2/kWh versus typical grid landing costs near ₹8.10–₹8.15/kWh, delivering roughly ₹6/kWh in savings; third-party PPAs typically fall in the ₹3–₹4/kWh range but must factor in open-access and cross-subsidy charges. Speakers emphasized careful PPA negotiation, creditworthiness checks, and technical readiness are required to lock in those benefits. Looking ahead, panellists such as Himanshu Chandrakar, CMO at Altilium Energie, expect the pace of contracting to pick up, with over 1,000 MW contracted in the coming year and potential contracted capacity approaching~3,000 MW in two to three years, with open access scaling beyond early adopters. Open Access Projects”